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The Grammar Logs # 130 |
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| QUESTION |
When showing a college degree in a paragraph, is it capitalized??
John Smith graduated from HBU with a bachelors degree in business administration (or Business Administration). |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Houston, Texas___ Thursday, May 21, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Must be that time of year! I'm getting a lot of questions about degrees. You can capitalize the name of the graduate's discipline, but don't capitalize the name of the degree. Also, the degree is spelled with an apostrophe, as it is a possessive: "a bachelor's degree." |
| QUESTION |
| "About every four years, on a staggered schedule, a complete copy of each exam (multiple-choice and free-response sections) is released." Which is correct: sections or section? The managing editor and I disagree about which is correct. I don't know what to call it, so I can't look it up; is it parallel construction, or agreement, or something else? |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Unknown ___ Thursday, May 21, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I assume that each exam contains both a multiple-choice and a free-response section? or at least one of each? One might wonder why it's necessary as long as you have the word "complete" there, but if it is, I suggest you word the parenthetical element this way: "(including multiple-choice and free-response sections)." Or "including all"? I think that avoids the possibility of ambiguity. This question was accompanied by an observation regarding an earlier response, but I need to ask something before I post that observation -- which I would like to do. If you send me your e-mail address, I will ask my question. I won't share your e-mail address with anyone. |
| QUESTION |
The verb "use" in the past tense followed by "to" indicates a former state, habitual practice as in,
I used to like the sour foods when I was a kid.What is the proper way of negating the sentence?
Thank you |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Los Angeles, California ___ Thursday, May 21, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The second choice, "used not to," is probably preferred in formal writing, but the first choice, "didn't use to," is acceptable, according to Quirk. Quirk also points out that two spellings -- "didn't use to" and "didn't used to" -- are also possible and (apparently) acceptable in this construction. You could also avoid the problem and say you never liked sour foods when you were a kid. Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 37. Used with permission.
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| QUESTION |
| Which is right? Women's community or Women community |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Somewhere, Pennsylvania ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| "Women's." Sometimes nouns can become attributive (i.e., turn into adjectives), as in "book cover," but not here. The community belongs to the women, thus the possessive. |
| QUESTION |
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?
On sale are different models of electric fan. |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| If you have different models of the same fan, you would probably add a Determiner of some kind to this sentence: "this electric fan"? If you have different models of more than one kind of fan, you would probably say "fans." Are you sure you mean different? Would several be a better choice? |
| QUESTION |
| I notice in the topical outline for the Guide to Grammar and Writing that one of the topics reads "Punctuation Marks Beside the Comma." Should it not be the word Besides (in addition to)? |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would like to say that I used the word "beside" there to see if people were paying attention, but that would be a lie. Thanks for bringing that to our attention! We've fixed it already. |
| QUESTION |
| Dear English Guru, Are all the sentences below correct?
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| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Kota Raja Besut,Trengganu, Malaysia ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Yes, but be careful of the context of that second sentence. You don't want to imply that they were dead, but they're no longer dead. |
| QUESTION |
This quote is from the TV Guide:
"Elaine finds out Puddy's religious."Is the apostrophe and "s" correct in this instance? Why or why not? Thanks! |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Gardiner, Maine ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| This is probably a good example of a contraction that can momentarily be confused for a possessive -- so we'd be better off without the contraction: "Elaine finds out that Puddy is religious." At least we wouldn't wonder if something is left out -- that Puddy's grandmama is religious or something like that. It's probably the nature of the shorthand they often use in such descriptions that some weird ambiguities will spring up from time to time. This isn't exactly ambiguous, but it isn't exactly easy to read, either. |
| QUESTION |
| Hi, Thanks for the grammar site. The "Ask Grammar" feature is a great idea. I was looking through some logs and noted a question about using "an" with words like "historical." Your response: I have done that before -- even written it "an historical event." I don't think the "h" sound is quite as pronounced as it is in "holiday" or "highlighted" or even "history," for that matter. That's my excuse, at least -- but it's just that, an excuse for making a mistake.My Webster's says "an" is frequently used before h-words with an initial unstressed syllable. So: "an historical" but not "an history." I don't like it (seems like an affectation), but there's your justification, if you want it. |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Unknown ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Thank you! I need to buy a better dictionary! |
| QUESTION |
| I could use some help regarding the use of the words "them" and "seen". For example: "I seen it." , "They seen it.", "We need them things.", "Them things aren't right" and so on. I need simple-to-use (and understand) suggestions regarding usage of "them" and"seen" in order to help correct the usage indicated above. Thanks |
| SOURCE & DATE OF QUESTION |
| Van Dyne, Wisconsin ___ Friday, May 22, 1998 |
| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| "Seen" is the past participle of the verb to see, so you aren't going to use it without a helping verb: I have seen, I had seen, I had been seen, etc. In the sentence you've given us, you want the simple past tense: I saw it. They saw it. "Them" is the object form of the Pronoun they. We need them. We saw them yesterday. You're confusing it with the plural Determiners these or those. We need those things. Those things aren't right. At the end of the Quiz List there is a hyperlink to other quizzes that might be helpful in your effort to sort out pronouns and determiners. |
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